These are the cases in which your company can fire you while on leave

When a worker is on sick leave or another type of ailment, the company must pay the salary during the first days. However, a more or less well-known practice is that of firms that take the opportunity to fire said worker while he is recovering.

The dismissal of workers on sick leave is often illegal and therefore claimable. The reason is that a worker cannot be fired for the simple fact of being on sick leave, despite the fact that this implies an extra expense for the company (either for the payment of the salary when it corresponds or, in addition, for the a substitute during the time of the absence).

However, there are cases in which the company may have the right to do so, . For this to happen, there must be bad faith on the part of the employee, which could lead to what is known as a disciplinary dismissal.

The most frequent reason is the simulation of said sick leave or the exaggeration of the sick leave to make it easier for the worker to deceive the company with the aim of taking an extra vacation, working in another job, traveling…

It is in these cases when the company can allege a fair dismissal, since the worker commits a fraud before which it will be difficult to claim nullity in court. If the employer also has evidence of negligence, escaping from fair dismissal will be an almost impossible mission.

How should you act in an unfair dismissal

The situation may arise, however, in which the company dismisses the worker without real reasons for such dismissal, either suspecting (wrongly) that they have faked their illness or accident or taking retaliation for the simple fact of taking the leave.

Here the worker will be able to go all out for the company, which will be incurring an unfair dismissal. The employee has the right to claim the annulment of the dismissal, in the same way that the company can fire you, even if it later has to back down.

If the company decides to take that step, the worker must be prepared and act accordingly: they must sign the dismissal letter as non-compliant and demand the payment of the settlement and the compensation to which they are entitled.